1961 VFL season
1961 VFL premiership season | |
---|---|
Teams | 12 |
Premiers | Hawthorn 1st premiership |
Minor premiers | Hawthorn 1st minor premiership |
Consolation series | Geelong 1st Consolation series win |
Brownlow Medallist | John James (Carlton) |
Coleman Medallist | Tom Carroll (Carlton) |
Matches played | 112 |
Highest | 107,935 |
The 1961 VFL season was the 65th season of the
The premiership was won by the
Background
In 1961, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus two substitute players, known as the 19th man and the 20th man. A player could be substituted for any reason; however, once substituted, a player could not return to the field of play under any circumstances.
Teams played each other in a home-and-away season of 18 rounds; matches 12 to 18 were the "home-and-way reverse" of matches 1 to 7.
Once the 18 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1961 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the
Home-and-away season
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6
Round 7
Round 8
Round 9
Round 10
Round 11
Round 12
Round 13
Round 14
Round 15
Round 16
Round 17
Round 18
Ladder
(P) | Premiers |
Qualified for finals |
# | Team | P | W | L | D | PF | PA | % | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Hawthorn (P) | 18 | 14 | 4 | 0 | 1467 | 1173 | 125.1 | 56 |
2 | Melbourne | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 1510 | 1151 | 131.2 | 50 |
3 | St Kilda | 18 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 1373 | 1173 | 117.1 | 44 |
4 | Footscray | 18 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 1334 | 1216 | 109.7 | 44 |
5 | Fitzroy | 18 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 1469 | 1258 | 116.8 | 42 |
6 | Geelong | 18 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 1367 | 1362 | 100.4 | 42 |
7 | Essendon | 18 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 1462 | 1335 | 109.5 | 38 |
8 | Carlton | 18 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 1279 | 1325 | 96.5 | 36 |
9 | Collingwood | 18 | 5 | 12 | 1 | 1166 | 1375 | 84.8 | 22 |
10 | Richmond | 18 | 5 | 13 | 0 | 1126 | 1428 | 78.9 | 20 |
11 | South Melbourne | 18 | 5 | 13 | 0 | 1187 | 1644 | 72.2 | 20 |
12 | North Melbourne | 18 | 4 | 13 | 1 | 1133 | 1433 | 79.1 | 18 |
Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 73.5
Source: AFL Tables
Finals series
Semi-finals
First semi-final | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
SF1: Saturday, 2 September (2:30 pm) | St Kilda 8.12 (60) | def. by | Footscray 9.15 (69) | MCG (crowd: 86,411) | Report |
Second semi-final | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
SF2: Saturday, 9 September (2:30 pm) | Hawthorn 12.8 (80) | def. | Melbourne 11.7 (73) | MCG (crowd: 87,744) | Report |
Preliminary final
Preliminary final | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Saturday, 16 September (2:30 pm) | Melbourne 8.10 (58) | def. by | Footscray 13.7 (85) | MCG (crowd: 86,118) | Report |
Grand final
Grand Final | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Saturday, 23 September (2:50 pm) | Hawthorn 13.16 (94) | def. | Footscray 7.9 (51) | MCG (crowd: 107,935) | Report |
|
Consolation night series competition
The night series were held under the floodlights at Lake Oval,
Final: Geelong 9.20 (74) defeated North Melbourne 9.8 (62)
Season notes
- St Kilda ended a twenty-two year finals appearance drought making the finals for the first time since 1939. This currently stands as the fourth longest finals appearance drought in league history.
- Following a VFL investigation of a complaint that game officials had not reported the incident, rugged South Melbourne ruckman Ken Boyd was suspended for 12 matches, for striking Carlton ruckman John Nicholls.
- In Round 16, Richmond was held goalless by St Kilda. This was the first time a team had been held goalless in a match since Round 11, 1921; and (as of 2023) is the last time it has occurred.
- Having decided to abandon its (1957–1960) experiment of allowing live telecasts of the last quarter of three VFL matches each Saturday afternoon on GTV-9, the VFL rejected offers from the three television stations to broadcast replays on Saturday evenings. A separate arrangement was made to allow a replay of the entire grand final match.
- In November, Collingwood announced that it has delisted sixteen players from its 1961 playing list, including Ian Brewer and Barry "Hooker" Harrison.
Awards
- The 1961 VFL Premiership team was Hawthorn.
- The VFL's leading goalkicker was Tom Carroll of Carlton who kicked 54 goals.
- The winner of the 1961 Brownlow Medal was John James of Carlton with 21 votes.
- North Melbourne took the "wooden spoon" in 1961.
- The reserves premiership was won by St Kilda. St Kilda 7.14 (56) defeated Geelong 5.16 (46) in the grand final, which was held as a stand-alone match on 30 September because the second semi-final was drawn and required a replay; the match was played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground before a crowd of 15,242.[1]
References
- ^ Rex Pullen (2 October 1961). "Saints run hot to take flag". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 39.
- Maplestone, M., Flying Higher: History of the Essendon Football Club 1872–1996, Essendon Football Club, (Melbourne), 1996. ISBN 0-9591740-2-8
- Rogers, S. & Brown, A., Every Game Ever Played: VFL/AFL Results 1897–1997 (Sixth Edition), Viking Books, (Ringwood), 1998. ISBN 0-670-90809-6
- Ross, J. (ed), 100 Years of Australian Football 1897–1996: The Complete Story of the AFL, All the Big Stories, All the Great Pictures, All the Champions, Every AFL Season Reported, Viking, (Ringwood), 1996. ISBN 0-670-86814-0
Sources
- 1961 VFL season at AFL Tables
- 1961 VFL season at Australian Football